The Black Swordsman

Chapter 24: GAD

7 Years Ago:

A 10-year-old Rika Shinozaki, or, as her friends liked to call her, Lisbeth, was listening to a girl her age give a book report about something she read over the summer, in front of the class. Unfortunately, she could barely hear what the girl was saying due to her own fear of having to do her presentation in front of the class as well over the book she read. A sick feeling, that wouldn't go away, sat in her stomach the entire time the girl was presenting and it was getting to the point that Lisbeth thought she was going to throw up. She had asked the teacher, before class, if there was any chance that she didn't have to present in front of the other students but she assured Lisbeth that it's just "butterflies in her stomach" and that it wasn't a big deal. To Lisbeth though, it didn't feel like it wasn't a big deal. She wiped her sweaty palms on her pants-leg as one of her friends sitting next to her saw how she was acting.

"Hey, Lisbeth, are you okay?" the girl whispered, trying not to disrupt the girl, who was still presenting to the class.

Lisbeth nodded her head, yes, since she wasn't able to force any words to come out of her mouth. Lisbeth tried to keep her breathing at a normal rate and noticed that her legs were beginning to slightly tremble. While she was so busy focusing on trying to calm herself down, she didn't realize that the girl at the front of the classroom had finished presenting her book report.

"Very nice job", complimented the teacher, smiling. "You may return to your seat. Let's see...Lisbeth, you're up next."

The mention of her name almost made her jump. Not wanting to make the teacher or the class wait, she picked up the book that she had read over the summer, a manga that she found very interesting about super heroes, and forced herself out of her chair, legs still trembling. Lisbeth made sure not to pay attention to any of the other kids in the classroom while she made her way to the front. As soon as she reached the front of the class, she turned around, her grasp on her book tightening more by the second. She gulped, nervously, and couldn't help herself from making eye contact with the teacher, hoping...praying she would do something to assist her.

"Whenever you're ready, Lisbeth", was the teacher's only response.

"R-right", spoke up Lisbeth, trying to push her worry to the back of her mind.

"O-over the summer...I-I read...um..."

For some reason, Lisbeth, all of the sudden, completely forgot the name of her book. It's like everything she was about to say just left her mind at the worst possible moment. The shaking in her legs grew worse upon realizing this and the trembling was slowly making its way to the rest of her body.

"Did you forget the name of your book?" asked one of the other kids in the classroom, annoyed by how long Lisbeth's presentation was taking.

"She could just check the name of her book since it's like, literally in her hands", another voice chimed in.

"Why is she shaking so much?"

"Is she okay?"

"Maybe, we should just move onto the next presentation or we'll be here all day?"

The comments from the class continued and the expectant stare from the teacher didn't go away either. Lisbeth attempted to try again with the intro to her presentation. She turned her book around to remind herself of the title and began, again.

"T-the b-book I read o-over the summer was t-this manga c-called..."

"Lisbeth, darling, I'm sorry to interrupt but on the assignment rubric, it said that the book had to be in typical novel format and couldn't be a comic book", interrupted the teacher with a stern look on her face. "Did you not read the rubric? That's awfully irresponsible of you."